Sergei Fedorov
|birth_place = Pskov, Russia |draft = 74th overall |draft_year = 1989 |draft_team = Detroit Red Wings |career_start = 1986 |career_end = 2012 |halloffame = 2015 }} Sergei Federov (born Sergei Viktorovich Fyodorov on December 13, 1969) is a Russian retired ice hockey player and the general manager of CSKA Moscow of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). He played as centre in his career, also occasionally playing as a winger or defenceman. Sergei gained fame in the National Hockey League (NHL) for his unique style of play with the Detroit Red Wings (with whom he won the Stanley Cup three times as well as the Hart Memorial Trophy as the league's most valuable player in 1994). After a highly publicized departure from the Red Wings in the summer of 2003, he played stints with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, Columbus Blue Jackets and the Washington Capitals before retiring from the NHL in 2009. He played in over 1,200 NHL games and scoring 483 goals in the NHL. Sergei is a three-time Olympian, the first European-trained player to win the Hart Trophy and is considered to be one of the best playoff performers in NHL history. On January 27, 2017, in a ceremony during the All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles, he was part of the second group of players to be named one of the "100 Greatest NHL Players" in history. Sergei was considered one of the best players in the world in the 1990s leading into the early 2000s. He last played for Metallurg Magnitogorsk of the KHL where he was made captain of in early September 2011. Sergei was also an ambassador for Russia at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame on November 9, 2015 and to the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame in 2016. Playing Career In Sergei's pre-NHL days, he played for CSKA Moscow on the famous line with future NHL superstars Pavel Bure & Alexander Mogilny and was drafted a year after Mogilny (the same year as Bure). He was drafted by the Detroit Red Wings in the 1989 NHL Entry Draft in the 4th round (74th overall). In 1990, while CSKA Moscow was in Portland for the Goodwill Games, Sergei quietly slipped out of his hotel room and onto an airplane bound for Detroit, thus becoming one of multiple future NHL stars to have defected from the Soviet Union to play in the League. Former Red Wings captain Steve Yzerman said his teammate was the "best skater I've ever seen." During the 1993–94 season, Sergei's outstanding play earned him the "oldest and most prestigious individual award in hockey," the Hart Memorial Trophy (awarded to the NHL's most valuable player), the Frank J. Selke Trophy (top defensive forward) and the Lester B. Pearson Award (awarded to the most outstanding player as selected by NHL players). He finished second in scoring behind the Los Angeles Kings' Wayne Gretzky with 56 goals and 120 points. During the 1993–94 season, being interviewed before his game, Gretzky was talking about a December 17 game between the Red Wings and New York Rangers, saying, "he had never seen a player dominate the game the way Sergei did." Later in the season, Gretzky also commented that he thought Fedorov was "the best player in the game at this point." Sergei was introduced to Gretzky by Paul Coffey during the 1994 NHL All-Star Game, which led to him staying over at his Los Angeles home with his family for two weeks that year. Playing in his second game after coming back from an injury, Steve Yzerman was asked about Sergei's play during the season: "I've only seen two other players that can dominate a game like Sergei, and that's Wayne and Mario. ... In my opinion, he's the best player in the League. He is different than Wayne and Mario because he dominates with his speed, and unbelievable one-on-one moves." Red Wings Head Coach Scotty Bowman was also asked in an interview during the season where he thought Sergei ranked among the players and teams he has coached in his career: "He's right at the top. He's got the greatest leg strength I've seen in a player. His legs are phenomenal." In the lockout-shortened 1994–95 season, Sergei finished second on the Red Wings in points with 50 (20 goals and 30 assists) in 42 games. That season, in a game against Los Angeles on February 12th, Sergei scored all four of Detroit's goals in a 4–4 tie. Although the Red Wings lost the Stanley Cup Finals that year to the New Jersey Devils, he led the playoffs in all scoring with 24 points (seven goals and 17 assists). He also led the Stanley Cup Finals in goals and led the Red Wings in points. Sergei won another Frank J. Selke Trophy in 1996, after scoring 39 goals and 107 points in 78 games, while playing stellar defensively. He finished in the top five for Hart Trophy voting and led the team in scoring, and helped them win the Presidents' Trophy. That season, they set an NHL record for wins in a season (62). Sergei also signed a four-year deal that season to become the first non-North American spokesman for Nike in which he made the "white skates" famous. The skates were different due to their unique colors and design, and he promoted it through a series of commercials for Nike. Steve Yzerman, speaking to a reporter on Fedorov a few weeks after turning the tide on a January 30 game that season that ended in a 4–2 victory for the Red Wings over the Toronto Maple Leafs, said, "Sergei is a game-breaker for us anytime he's on the ice. ... He's the most talented player I've ever seen." The Red Wings season ended in disappointment when they were defeated by the Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference Finals 4 games to 2. Although Sergei finished tied for the team lead with 20 points in 19 playoff games, only 2 of those points were from goals. Red Wings owner Mike Ilitch spoke with him during the Avalanche series, imploring him to shoot more. The next season, Sergei played for Russia in the 1996 World Cup of Hockey, and was a member of the Red Wings' first Stanley Cup championship team since 1955, leading the team playoff scoring with 20 points in 20 games, including 8 goals. He led the Stanley Cup Finals in points and in goals for a second time. Goaltender Mike Vernon won the Conn Smythe Trophy, "but many hockey insiders believe that Sergei deserved that honor." During the regular season, Fedorov had achieved the rare feat of scoring five goals in a single game, as he registered all of Detroit's goals in a 5–4 overtime win against the Washington Capitals on December 26, 1996. In the mid-1990s, Head Coach Scotty Bowman compiled a line for Detroit nicknamed The Russian Five, also known as the "Red Army" after finding out that many Soviet teams frequently put their forwards and defensemen together on five-man units. The group included Fedorov (centre), Igor Larionov (right wing), Vyacheslav Kozlov (left wing), and Slava Fetisov & Vladimir Konstantinov (defense). Larionov mentioned the idea to Bowman and led the line through a spectacular display of prowess in which they played a two-minute shift at both ends of the ice, denying all attempts at defensive maneuvering. The "'Russian Five' dazzled opponents with their skill and skating ability" on the ice together and "became the Red Wings personality." The unit played an instrumental role during the Red Wings' success of that decade. During the 1997 playoffs, the Red Wings went 16–0 when any of the Russians scored a point and 0–4 when they did not, helping the team to win the 1997 Stanley Cup Finals. After a lengthy holdout to start the 1997–98 season, Sergei (who was a restricted free agent) signed an offer sheet with the Carolina Hurricanes worth up to $38 million (with bonuses). The Red Wings matched the offer on February 26, 1998, ending Sergei's holdout. The offer included $14 million for signing and $2 million for 21 regular season games, but the most controversial part of the deal was a $12 million bonus payable immediately if Sergei's team reached 1998 conference finals (at the time, Detroit was already a Cup contender while Carolina was almost certain to miss the playoffs), so the clause was criticized for creating an unfair disadvantage for Detroit. Nevertheless, the Red Wings did match the offer and paid the bonus. The $28 million Detroit paid Sergei for 43 total games in 1997–98 is the largest single season amount paid to an NHL player. He led the playoffs in goals and helped the Red Wings win their second consecutive Stanley Cup that season. On February 14, 1999, Sergei announced that his entire base salary for the 1998–99 season, $2 million, would be used to create the Sergei Fedorov Foundation, a charity to assist Detroit area children. During the 1990s, he was third in playoff scoring, with 134 points behind only Jaromir Jagr (135) and Mario Lemieux (136). He is only the third player in NHL history to have four consecutive 20+ point playoffs, along with Mike Bossy & Bryan Trottier. He also led the entire NHL in plus-minus in the 1990s with a +221. In the 2001–02 season, Sergei played with a star-studded roster that included newcomers Dominik Hasek, Luc Robitaille and Brett Hull, culminating with him winning his third Stanley Cup where he led the Stanley Cup Finals again in points for a second time. During an interview with Brett Hull days after the Red Wings 2002 Stanley Cup Championship win, he commented on Fedorov as a player and person: "Fedorov's maturity—not only on the ice, but off the ice—has grown immensely, and, like Stevie said, there's not too many guys in this league, if any, that have the skill that he does. And he's learned to use it over the years. I think everyone can see that." In the 2002–03 NHL season, Steve Yzerman was injured for most the season and Fedorov led the team in scoring with 36 goals and 83 points in 80 games, and won the inaugural Kharlamov Trophy by the NHL. At the 2002 NHL All-Star Game SuperSkills Competition, Sergei slapped the puck 101.5 mph in the net to win "Hardest Shot". Dominik Hasek said on Sergei, "I know his shot, and I'm not surprised that he won it. ... He can shoot from the blue line and he can score from the blue line." After an October 25, 2002 game between Pittsburgh and Detroit, talking to reporters about Sergei, Mario Lemieux said, "He was awesome. The way he skates, he's just dominating out there. Especially in the neutral zone, he picks up a lot of speed. You can't defend against that." Sergei signed a free-agent contract with Anaheim for less than the Red Wings offered him after Detroit lost to Anaheim in the first round of the playoffs in 2003. He is fourth all-time in many offensive categories in Red Wings history behind Gordie Howe, Steve Yzerman and Alex Delvecchio. Only Howe, Yzerman, Delvecchio, Nicklas Lidstrom, Tomas Holmstrom and Kris Draper have played more games as a Red Wing. In the 2003 off-season, Sergei signed with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim after a long contract dispute with the Red Wings (in which he rejected deals for five-year, $50 million and four-year, $40 million). On December 3, 2003, he returned to Detroit for the first time since signing with the Ducks; he was booed heavily by Detroit fans every time he touched the puck during a 7–2 Red Wings victory. Sergei remained with Anaheim from 2003 to 2005. It was with the Ducks that he picked up his 1,000th point, becoming the first Russian-born and fifth European-born player to do so. Some hockey legends in interviews throughout the years have commented on Sergei's abilities (such as former Red Wings teammate Nicklas Lidström who said: "I think he's the best player in the League. He's real tough to defend against. He's got quickness to best you if you step up to him. It's tough to stop him." Former Boston Bruins legend Ray Bourque once said, "Sergei is a dominating player, a franchise player. When he makes a move on you, he has the ability to maintain his speed or even go faster. There aren't many defensemen who can keep up with him." Steve Yzerman and Wayne Gretzky speaking to Fox Sports columnist and Detroit radio host Art Regner in past interviews said they thought "Fedorov is the most talented player they've ever seen." After leaving the Red Wings (his first season with Anaheim, in which he scored 31 times), Sergei had multiple injuries and his tally of 18 goals in 2006-07 was the most he scored until his retirement from the NHL in 2008-09. In an unanticipated move,Sergei was traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets on November 15, 2005, along with a fifth-round draft pick, in exchange for forward Tyler Wright & rookie defenceman François Beauchemin. As a Blue Jacket, Fedorov also played his 1,000th NHL game on November 30, 2005, becoming the 13th European-born player to reach 1,000 NHL games and the 205th player overall to do so. In a 2006 interview, former Red Wing Head Coach Scotty Bowman said, "was one of my favorite players as a coach because he can do anything of him on ice." Bowman coached nine of Sergei's 13 seasons with Detroit. During the late 1990s, Bowman experimented by using Fedorov on defence and pairing him with Larry Murphy. Red Wings Senior Vice-President Jim Devellano said, "I'm convinced if we left him there, he'd have won a Norris Trophy." Although he was effective playing defence, Sergei stated that he would rather play as a forward, though this did not prevent then-Blue Jackets Head Coach Ken Hitchcock from moving him to defence on occasion. Approaching the NHL trade deadline in 2008, Sergei was traded to the Washington Capitals in exchange for prospect Theo Ruth. The following summer, he signed a one-year, $4 million contract with Washington Capitals. In the 2008–09 season (in what would become his final season in the NHL), Sergei passed Alexander Mogilny for most goals scored by a Russian-born hockey player, a record previously held by Mogilny (who scored 473 goals). In a 2009 interview, Scotty Bowman recalled a conversation between Wayne Gretzky and himself: "I talked to Wayne Gretzky about that six or seven years ago and he said to me: 'I couldn't play forward and defence. Mario couldn't do it. Jágr couldn't play defense. But Sergei could. He was a hell of a player.'" A few years later, in a 2015 interview, Bowman stated he thought Sergei "could have been an all-star defenceman, but he developed his offensive skills." On April 28, 2009, in one of Sergei's last games in the NHL, after scoring the game-winning goal in the 2009 playoffs against the New York Rangers in a 2–1 Game 7 contest, then-Capitals Head Coach Bruce Boudreau stated in a press conference, "Let's face it, sometimes experience pays off. He knew what he had to do, when to do it, and that's what makes him one of the greatest players, ever." Team captain Alexander Ovechkin added, "He's our leader... He's our best guy in the locker room. He showed it. He's our best guy. He has more experience than anybody in this locker room. He knows how to play like that. He just shows his leadership." In his book, Jeremy Roenick spoke about Sergei Fedorov being one of his top ten favourite players to play against, saying: "He was a horse, bigger than you'd think he was. He could skate, handle the puck like a magician, and check you until you hated him. You didn't get a break when you played centre against Detroit in those days." He added, "Today we talk about Evgeni Malkin and Alex Ovechkin, but neither of those guys could skate with Alexander Mogilny or Fedorov or Pavel Bure." For the 2009–10 season, Sergei returned to Russia, signing a two-year deal with Metallurg Magnitogorsk. He said that he wanted to fulfill his father's lifelong dream of having his two sons play on the same team. Early in the season, he scored his 1,500th point in official games. On October 9, 2013, Sergei announced that he would be returning to CSKA Moscow as a player. In response to the questions about him continuing his playing career, he said, "The legs are still good" and "I still train twice a week." Sergei would appear in his last two games of his career for CSKA at the 2013 Spengler Cup, registering three shots & one goal, but he never appeared in a KHL game for the team. Career Statistics Regular season and playoffs International NHL All-Star Games International Play Soviet Union }} Russia }} In the (U-20) 1987 World Junior Championships, Sergei made his national team debut for the Soviet Union. The Soviet team was ejected (as well Canada) for their part in the infamous punch-up in Piestany bench-clearing brawl during the final game. The fight is famous for officials having turned off the arena lights in a desperate attempt at ending the 20 minute melee. He played again with teammate Alexander Mogilny in the 1988 World Junior Championships, both made the tournament All-Star Team, finishing with a silver medal. The Bure-Fedorov-Mogilny line made its international debut at the 1989 World Junior Championships in Anchorage, Alaska. The top line of CSKA Moscow teammates combined for a total 38 points and led the Soviet Union over Canada for the gold medal. The combination of the three formed was promising for head coach Viktor Tikhonov with expectations to replace the previous top Soviet line, the K-L-M combination of Vladimir Krutov, Larionov and Makarov. Later that year, Sergei made his senior debut with the Soviet national team as a 19-year-old at the 1989 World Championships in Sweden. He played with the full roster Soviet Union team that won the gold medal over Canada in their final game, and played along aside club teammates Mogilny and Vladimir Konstantinov. Sergei also led the team in goals (6) and was second in points (9). The Soviet Union would repeat gold at the 1990 World Championships in Switzerland against Czechoslovakia, with Bure playing on Fedorov's wing. In the 1991 Canada Cup, the team representing the Soviet Union was missing most of its top stars due to severe political turmoil at home. Many players were declining to play for the team, and some were purposely left off the roster (such as Pavel Bure, Vladimir Konstantinov, etc.) for fears of defection. It was not known until weeks before the start of the tournament that they would even send a team. This was the final major senior event in which a team representing the Soviet Union (USSR) would play. Sergei was asked to join the team (one year after defection), which he accepted to represent his country. Though the team finished in fifth place, he did help hold an undefeated Canada to a 3–3 tie in Quebec City in their last game, where a young Fedorov was paired against tournament MVP Wayne Gretzky. In the 1996 World Cup of Hockey, Team Russia had played five preliminary games in order to set the groupings for the main tournament stage. Russia was the only team that went undefeated (winning against Finland (Moscow), Germany (Landshut), Sweden (Stockholm), USA (Detroit), and tied against Canada (Calgary). The U.S.A, Sweden and Finland games saw the pairing line of "Bure-Fedorov-Mogilny", for the first and only time internationally on the senior level and was considered "perhaps the best forward line on earth" at the time. With Pavel Bure injured at the end of the U.S.A game, he was not able to play in the main tournament. One of Sergei's goals came in the round robin of the tournament in the second period against Canada in Vancouver on a breakaway pass off the boards from defensemen Darius Kasparaitis where he sprinted to the puck & shot it over the blocker of goalie Curtis Joseph to tie the game. Sergei and Mogilny played on the same line but it was Fedorov that led the team in scoring, although Russia would lose in the semi-finals against the U.S.A, after defeating Finland 5–0 in the quarterfinals. On a team that was missing many of their top stars due to players declining and injuries, Sergei (along with Pavel Bure and Mikhail Shtalenkov) carried the team to a silver medal with Russia in the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. In the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, Sergei and the Russians knocked out the Czech Republic in the quarterfinals 1–0, and ended the tournament winning a bronze medal in their final game against Belarus. In response on his decision to play hockey at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Sergei said: "I don't think it is appropriate to delay my decision about the Olympics any further. As much as I would enjoy representing my country in Italy, I'm afraid that at this point in the season my focus has to remain with the Columbus Blue Jackets... I feel that the most important thing is for me to continue to work towards being 100 percent healthy. My main priority and responsibility is to the Columbus Blue Jackets and I don't believe participating in the Olympics, which is a short, intense tournament, would be the best thing to do." The Washington trio of Alexander Ovechkin, Alexander Semin and Sergei competed on the same line for Team Russia and won the gold medal at the 2008 World Championships, 5–4 in overtime against Canada; he passed to Ilya Kovalchuk to set up the game-winning goal. The tournament was held for the first time in Canada (Quebec City) for the 100th anniversary celebrations. Team Russia would repeat the gold medal, again against Canada, at the 2009 World Championships. He also played for Russia in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver; He was the eldest player in the tournament at the age of 40 years. Russia entered the competition ranked number one in the world. Russia lost in the quarterfinals but he finished the Olympics at a point-per-game, and tied Ovechkin for second on the team overall. On December 27, 2013 Fedorov played for CSKA Moscow in the 2013 Spengler Cup, in 2 games he scored 1 goal in the tournament. Accolades *World Junior Championships – 1988 All-Star Team *NHL All-Rookie Team – 1991 *NHL First All-Star Team – 1994 *NHL All-Star Game – 1992, 1994, 1996, 2001, 2002, 2003 *KHL All-Star Game – 2010, 2011, 2012 *NHL All-Star Game SuperSkills Competition – "Fastest Skater" Winner (1992, 1994), "Hardest Shot" Winner (2002) *Hart Memorial Trophy (MVP) – 1994 *Lester B. Pearson Award – 1994 *Frank J. Selke Trophy – 1994, 1996 *Master of Sport Award (Ice Hockey) – 1998 *Kharlamov Trophy – 2003 *Faith Towards Hockey Award – 2011 *1994 NHL Player of the Year by The Sporting News *3-time NHL Stanley Cup Champion: 1997, 1998 and 2002, all with the Detroit Red Wings *3-time Presidents' Trophy Winner 1995, 1996 and 2002, all with the Detroit Red Wings *4-Time Clarence Campbell Bowl Winner 1995, 1997, 1998 and 2002 Personal Life Sergei was born to Viktor and Natalia Fedorov in Pskov. He is the brother of the professional hockey player Fedor Fedorov. He claimed that he and tennis star Anna Kournikova were married in 2001, but Kournikova's representatives deny any marriage to Fedorov, however Fedorov's agent, Pat Brisson, claims that although he doesn't know when they got married, he knew "he Fedorov was married". Although she claims to have never married the hockey superstar, she did turn over her South Beach condo as part of the divorce. He was also romantically linked to actress Tara Reid in 2004. He also had a cereal named after him called Fedorov Crunch. In 2006, Sergei appeared in Soccer Aid, a football game that takes place in England pitting celebrities against each other to benefit UNICEF UK. He competed for the "rest of the world" squad. On July 24, 2009, Sergei filed a lawsuit against Joseph Zada for defrauding on an agreement to pay him $60 million to compensate him for the $43 million he invested with Zada over the past 11 years. The lawsuit was filed by Fedorov in Michigan. He won the suit, but has been unable to collect on the judgment from Zada. Sergei continues his philanthropic endeavors via the Sergei Fedorov Foundation, a 501©(3) charitable foundation, which has donated over $800,000 to charities that mostly benefit children in need. He currently serves as the General Manager of CSKA Moscow, a hockey team in the Kontinental Hockey League (also known as the "Red Army Team"). Sergei presently resides in Moscow during hockey season and splits his summers between Detroit & Miami. Category:1969 births Category:Detroit Red Wings players Category:Detroit Red Wings draft picks Category:Anaheim Ducks players Category:Columbus Blue Jackets players Category:Washington Capitals players Category:HC Metallurg Magnitogorsk players Category:HC CSKA Moscow players Category:Stanley Cup champions